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Yesteryear Farm and Home Show Report

Dave Brown

| January/February 1995

'Miss Yesteryear,' Rich Barker.

Carolyn Brown drives her 1937 Farmall F-12.

Bert Herrera's 6 HP Dempster.

12201 Vermillion Road Longmont, Colorado 80501

The weather wasn't much to brag about during our show this
year, but even so we were thankful for what we got (or didn't
get), because all around us the weather was even worse. One of the
local newspapers had just reported that we hadn't received any
measurable precipitation in 100 consecutive days, and wouldn't
you know it, the next day, just as we were setting up for the show,
we got 1 inches of rain in half an hour. North of us, in LaPorte,
this same storm dumped up to six inches of rain. East, in the area
of Deer Trail and Limon, there were tornadoes reported. To the
south, Pueblo received four inches of rain, and in Denver water
stood up to four feet deep in underpasses. West of us, in Lyons and
Central City, highway crews with front loaders and trucks were
called out to clear mudslides from the highways. So we in Longmont
considered ourselves lucky to get just a paltry little downpour,
and we continued with preparations for our show.

Our display area is mostly flat and pretty well covered with
good gravel road base material, so this bit of bad weather
didn't really hinder us much. We slogged along, finished
setting up as best we could, and even found a little humor in the
situation. One portion of our display area contains a low-lying
area, and this filled with rain water. One witty exhibitor tossed
in a couple of rubber ducks and put up a sign which read 'Lake
NelsonNo Swimmin'.' (The name Nelson refers to one of the
founders of our show, Harvey Nelson.) Although the weather remained
unsettled, we didn't get any more significant rainfall, and the
show went on as planned. It seems the bad weather didn't have
any effect on attendance, as our show was bigger than ever this
year.

In 1994 we had 106 antique tractors, most of them restored but a
few still 'in working clothes.' There were a lot of John
Deeresthe crew from Van Thuyne Farms of Longmont, for example,
brought 10 restored As, Bs, Ds, and Hs. Farmalls were also
plentiful, with nicely restored examples of all F series Farmalls
as well as As, Bs, Hs and Ms. Also from IHC we had a nice W-30 and
a T-20 TracTracTor. Although the 10-20s and 15-30s aren't rare
around here, we don't ever seem to have any at our show. I
don't understand that. How about somebody bringing a few next
year? Other brands represented this year were Massey-Harris,
Minneapolis-Moline, Oliver, Gibson, Ford, Fordson, Ferguson,
Cockshutt, Co-Op, Allis-Chalmers, and Case.

-Advertisement-

Speaking of Case tractors, our show is always held in
conjunction with the Boulder County Fair, and 1994 was the 125th
anniversary of our fair. To commemorate this milestone and to raise
funds for our show we auctioned off a newly restored 1942 Case SC
tractor to the highest bidder during our event. In addition to
being restored and sporting a new paint job, the tractor has
lettering on the hood commemorating the 125th year of the fair. A
real collector's item! The proud new owner is Mark Belfiore of
Boulder, Colorado. Congratulations, Mark! Mark came to our show
with his 1941 model Oliver 60. He drove his Oliver in the antique
tractor parade on Friday and Saturday, and his wife was a
spectator. The Case tractor was auctioned off just after
Saturday's parade, and during Sunday's antique tractor
parade Mark drove his new Case tractor and his wife drove the
Oliver!

We had a very nice turnout of stationary engines again this
year, many of which were kept busy operating pumps, shellers, and
so forth. There are always some very nicely restored specimens at
our show, and this year was no exception. Bert Herrera from
LaPorte, Colorado, brought his 1913 vintage 6 HP IHC Famous
hopper-cooled engine and a beautiful 6 HP Dempster 'left
hand' engine built in 1922.

Chuck Wallace of Berthoud, Colorado, brought his assortment of
very nicely restored engines: J.D., IHC, F-M, and Maytag from the
'20s and '30s, and Paul Davis, also of Berthoud, brought a
unique Crossley engine. The Crossley, made in 1915 or so, is of
British origin, and Paul acquired it from its previous owner in
Kansas who in turn had bought it from a museum in Manchester,
England. The Crossley is either a 17'/2 or 19'/: HP engine,
depending on what kind of fuel is used, and weighs approximately
3,000 lbs. Paul has it mounted on a 16 ft. trailer. It has a large
cast iron muffler on it, and when it runs you can see the trailer
bounce but the engine makes very little sound. Ken Kroschel of
Longmont brought his collection of 20 stationary engines, along
with an assortment of other goodies. He was kept pretty busy
keeping 20 or so engines running.

There were some very nicely done scale models at our show.
Several exhibitors were present with scale model engines. Some of
these models were built from kits, and others were built totally
from scratch. Gene Nettesheim of Boulder, for example, is building
a scale model Gaar-Scott steam traction engine. He fabricates
wooden models for all those parts which are to be cast, then pours
the castings and machines them. He is not quite done with it yet,
but it was on display at our show, and it is simply an outstanding
display of craftsmanship. Bob Roggenbuck of Cheyenne, Wyoming,
brought his scale models of a Case threshing machine and Case cross
motor tractor. This nice little combination isn't just to look
atthey actually function just like the full size machines! Harley
and Becky Rackley from Woodland Park brought a very nice assortment
of scale model engines, and Harold Beckett from Longmont also
brought a whole table full of various scale model engines.

Ours is not just a tractor and engine show. Each year we have a
number of very interesting displays of 'miscellaneous'
items, and these always prove to be some of the most popular
exhibits. Wes Stratman of Pueblo, Colorado, brought a huge
collection of antique hand tools. His tool collection is housed in
an enclosed trailer, and the trailer has large panels on both sides
and across the back which swing open, and inside there are racks
literally covered with tools. One could easily spend a whole day
looking at all the tools, and Wes is only too happy to show them
off and answer questions about them. There were other displays of
antique hand tools, too, as well as collections of just about
anything 'old': cherry pitters, apple peelers, cider
presses, sad irons, waffle irons, handcuffs, barbed wire samples,
insulators, washing machines, churns, cement mixers, rope makers,
pumps, grinders, stationary steam machinery you name it, it was
there.

We had a nice assortment of horse drawn machinery, too. Plows,
seeders, cultivators, and so forth took up one section of our
display area. John Ellis brought his old horse drawn Star hay
tedder and wanted to include it in the antique tractor parade. He
didn't bring any horses, so he and another exhibitor pulled it
in the parade themselves. Everyone had a good laugh at this
spectacle. Another spectacle in the antique tractor parade was the
appearance of our very first 'show queen.' Our show being
named as it is, no attractive young lady wants to be selected
'Miss Yesteryear,' so we had to be creative. One of our
fellow exhibitors (and a good sport), Rich Barker, agreed to help
out. He donned a granny dress and bonnet, and wearing a banner
proclaiming him to be 'Miss Yesteryear,' rode in the parade
on a Wheel Horse garden tractor. Rich is a good sized man, and with
his hairy legs showing below his dress and his very non-feminine
physique draped across this pint-sized tractor, it was quite a
sight! It was all done 'jest fer fun,' and I really think
everyone enjoyed it.

Out-of-state exhibitors at our show this year were Harold and
Cora Sherron of Boaz, Kentucky, who brought their collection of
Gibson tractors. With them came Sam and Mary Wells of Olney,
Illinois, who brought and displayed antique generators and bike
engines. Also from out of state were Art and Barbara Weiser from
Hartville, Wyoming, who brought a pair of nice stationary engines;
Ken Clossen from Cheyenne with two Gibson tractors and a 1920 W12
Cletrac crawler; and the previously mentioned Bob Roggenbuck with
his scale model Case thresher and cross motor tractor.

Show dates for 1995 are August 11th through the 13th, and of
course you're all invited: For more information, contact the
author at the address above, or call (303) 776-9859.